Aldoga still on the drawing board

Today The Observer profiles the proposed Aldoga Aluminium Smelter in its series of updates on local industrial projects.

IT has been one of the longest awaited industrial projects for Gladstone since the Comalco Alumina Refinery.

But despite the Aldoga Aluminium Smelter appearing in local industry board reports for about five years, no foundations have yet been poured.

The most recent news on the project is that the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) stage has been extended for a further six weeks to give Chinese investors NFC time to look over all the figures and offer Aldoga a price to go ahead with construction.

Aldoga environment and external affairs general manager Bob Stephens recently told The Observer the project had been waiting for the completion of the FEED. "It's been in limbo for the last six months,'' Mr Stephens said.

"The investors will simply do their figures and if it's all right we'll just go from there, but if not there will probably be a bit of argy bargy,'' Mr Stephens said. Golding Contractors had nearly reached the end of its contract for preliminary earthworks at the Aldoga site.

No contractor had yet been announced for the construction phase, still expected to start at the beginning of next year.